Iconic Whitney Pier business inspires parade float

SYDNEY — The King of Lower Prices will once again figure prominently on the streets of Whitney Pier.

The nearly completed scale model of Archie Nathanson's Lower Price Store in Whitney Pier is shown in a garage at Sydport. The finished float will lead Saturday's Sydney Santa Claus parade.

The once popular store with that famous royal claim on its exterior will be brought back to life in float form as part of the Sydney Santa Claus parade on Saturday.

Its inspiration is Herman Nathanson, the store's former owner and a man considered to be a founder of the parade, after a move to keep the parade off the streets of Whitney Pier for the first time almost came to fruition.

"We just came up with the idea of having a founders' float just to remember the people that wanted the parade to start," said Donnie Shaw, who is building the float in honour of Nathanson and fellow founders Charles Richardson, Abe Wetston and Harry Muldoon.

"What better way to do that than with that landmark building?"

The float that the owner of Atlantic Truck and Equipment has been constructing in one of his garages is a scale-sized version of the original store on Victoria Road.

Its features are inspired by how that store looked during the Christmas season, when stuffed animals lined the bottoms of windows, men's shirts could be seen from the street and decorations were all around.

"Herman wanted shirts in the windows and Christmas balls in the windows. We'll have them for him."

The colour of the float will be the original red and yellow of the store's exterior, he said.

"There's a lot of people who remember when it was an orange-ish red, but that's not the original colour."

Even the lettering on the outside will be the same as the original store, as Shaw has insisted on using the same style font that once spelled out things like "lower price store" and "dry goods."

Shaw's son, Brandon, has been handling much of that letter work.

All of the names of the original founders will also be on the float. Its only occupants will be Herman Nathanson and his wife Barbara.

Though he's building it, Shaw gave credit to Colleen Dunn for coming up with the idea for the founders' float and Sheldon Nathanson, Herman's son, for offering plenty of input.

"We tossed a few different ideas around but this was probably the most recognizable thing in the Pier," he said. "This is just a way of creating awareness of him and what he had done."

The float that is a tribute to Nathanson's is far from Shaw's first venture into the Christmas season. He and Sheldon have gone to great lengths in their participation in local parades over the past 15 years.

Last year, for example, they were part of 12 different parade entries. They'll have 15 entries this year, including a new one featuring Muppets characters Stadler and Waldorf, offering parade observations.